Longtime automotive historian and author Beverly Rae Kimes died Monday, May 12. Kimes was a rarity in the field; as one of the first female authors in a business traditionally dominated by men, Kimes' expertise in classic, racing and collectible cars, and the people who made and drove them, was the exception to the rule.
Her career has helped open doors for other women, such as Denise McCluggage (Autoweek and more), Jean Lindamood (Automobile) and Judy Stropus (who covers motor racing). They and others to come in the future owe a debt to Beverly Rae Kimes which can never truly be paid-in-full. Knowing that in order to succeed in her chosen profession her work had to be better than everyone else's, Kimes went onto become certainly the most-honored auto writer in this country, maybe even the world. Someone had to be first, and in this case, she was the "one".
Kimes' body of work, found for decades in magazines, newspapers, especially in books and now through the Web, confirms that she was one of the best writers in her league, spending much of her professional life at the top of the ladder. Kimes had a visceral understanding of cars and drivers but also of the more "ordinary" people, like the marketers, engineers and assembly line workers who made cars possible and available to the masses. She quite literally "wrote the book" on the rare and expensive European and American classics, and her "Standard Catalogers" and other books and articles are used as trusted reference material for many motor writers who came after Kimes (trust me ... I know ... Visits to the local library or the Detroit Public Library or private periodical collections are still necessary for true research into auto stories, even with the existence of Web).
Beverly Rae Kimes was born in West Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 17, 1939, and grew up in Wheaton, Ill. She earned two journalism degrees, a bachelor’s from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a master’s from Penn State.
A stickler for accuracy and detail, thoroughness and patience, with liberal doses of humor and insight, the exact qualities her job called for, Kimes was a prolific researcher and writer known for such books as “The Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1805-1942” and “Packard: A History of the Motor Car and the Company.” Most recently, Beverly was the executive editor of the Classic Car Club of America, and had been a longtime editor of "Automobile Quarterly;" in fact, Kimes was that prestigious publication's first full-time employee.
She also had a longtime relationship with Mercedes-Benz, and in 1986 was commissioned to author and
produce the large, single volume commemorating the company's first 100 years in business, "The Star and The Laurel: The Centennial History of Daimler, Mercedes and Benz 1886-1986". The magnificent book became an instant automotive and publishing industry collectible. It featured over 850 photographs and details the technical developments and achievements in the history of the automotive industry first made by Daimler, Benz and Mercedes (the company's division which was named for the daughter of one of Daimler-Benz's first board members, Emil Jellinek, who also formed the company's first racing division and was the company's French distributor).
She also frequently contributed articles to "The Star," the magazine of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America, itself one of the most-honored publications, with gorgeous, memorable prose and wonderful, warm photography dripping with Kodachrome color.
Click below for more on Beverly Rae Kimes, her life and profession.
(Photo --- Kimes' "Speed, Style and Beauty" is a record of the fabulous car collection owned by US fashion designer and businessman Ralph Lauren and was the official publication of that collection's national museum tour).
Kimes began her career in 1963 at "Automobile Quarterly" and is considered by many to be the most honored automobile historian in America, if not the world. A walking encyclopedia of cars worldwide, not just those limited just to America, she is a past president of the Society of Automotive Historians and has served as executive editor of the Classic Car Club of America since 1981. Six of her books, including "Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels," have won the SAH Cugnot Award, and she has received the SAH Benz Award for best article of the year four times.
She wrote hundreds of articles and wrote or edited over twenty books in the field, including "My Two Lives: Race Driver to Restaurateur" with Rene Dreyfus, the French racing champion of the thirties (Grand Prix winner, Monaco, 1930) who founded and ran the world-famous Manhattan restaurant, Le Chanteclair, which was a "must" stop for every motor racing enthusiast, especially Europeans, whenever visiting NYC.
Kimes knew everyone in the world's auto business and where the skeletons were buried, especially in the US and Europe. While she was interested in Asian cars and the people who designed and built them, as any motor writer would, her background in "the classics and collectibles" meant her laser-like concentration was usually focused on the great cars from companies such as Cadillac, Panhard, Rolls-Royce and Packard; not those of Toyota, Chery, Great Wall or Hyundai. (Photo --- Kimes' "Scoundrels" book was her most-honored; it's probably the most-honored book about cars and the auto industry ever written).
She received the McKean Trophy of the Antique Automobile Club of American and was a four-time 
recipient of the Karl Benz Award given by Society of Automotive Historians for her work in Automobile Quarterly that included these articles: "The Nash Story," 1978 (Cugnot article winner); "Ken Purdy, King of the Road," 1994; "Austie," 1999; and "The Story Behind the Marmon 12," 2004.
The SAE, Society of Automotive Engineers-published book, "Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels" earned what's known as the "triple crown" for automotive history books.
"Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels" is a portrait of the American automobile industry's early years, focusing on individuals who dreamed, schemed, innovated, succeeded and failed in their quests for fame, fortune, glory and knowledge. In documenting the many highs and lows (some of them outside the law) of the men and women of the early auto industry, Kimes brings the characters alive, transforming them into living, breathing, scheming and thinking real people, and doesn't run away from their cheating, drinking, conniving and carousing, as most present-day auto journalists would.
The Society of Automotive Historians presented "Scoundrels" with the Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot Award for best book of the year. This marked the third award received by the book since it was published for SAE International's 100th anniversary in 2005.
In February 2006, "Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels" was honored by the Antique Automobile Club of America with the Thomas McKean Memorial Cup for representing the year's most important original research in automobile history. (Photo --- Kimes' "My Two Lives" was written with Formula 1/Grand Prix winner Rene' Dreyfus to tell his story as a racer and Manhattan restaurateur; famed outdoorsman, sailor, CBS radio and TV reporter and news anchor and consummate New Yorker, Walter Cronkite wrote the book's Foreword; can't get much more credible than that).
The publication was also named "Best of Books" at the International Automotive Media Awards in November 2005, where Kimes was selected to receive the Recognition of Lifetime Achievement.
"We are saddened by the passing of Beverly and our condolences go out to her family, friends and colleagues," Mike Kunz, manager of the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Irvine, California, said in a statement. "Beverly's significant contributions will be forever lasting throughout the Mercedes-Benz organization."
In memory of Beverly and in lieu of flowers, Kimes' family asks that donations be made to The National Kidney Foundation at www.kidney.org (where there is a “make a gift” form), or via FAX to 212-889-2310 (National Kidney Foundation, 30 East 33rd Street NY, NY 10016).
In addition to her husband, James Cox, Ms. Kimes’s survivors include her sister, Sharon, of Star Lake, Wis.; her stepson, James Jr., of Bushkill, Pa.; and her stepdaughters Lori Ann Cox Reeve, of Hampton, N.J., and Cheryl Lynn Cox Redding, of Baltimore.
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